Ryker's Homecoming

Ryker went to Homecoming with his friend Amanda. I was doing Averie Gunter's hair when he popped in to tell me that he was leaving. I wanted to get a picture of him before he headed out but by the time I ran out to get one he had already driven off. He knew I wanted a picture and was being a big stinker. I knew that pictures were going to be taken that night and that I would get them but still, he should have let me take a picture.  This was my first time getting a corsage for one of these dances and I was shocked with how much the flowers were! I ordered it from Albertson's and it was beautiful but if I had known the price ahead of time I might have done more shopping around. I paid $3o for that stinking corsage and all I could think was she better appreciate it and keep it forever!

Ryker picked Amanda up from her house and her Mom took some pictures which Ryker made sure to have sent to me. 

She is a very pretty girl and they make a really cute couple.

Their group met at Scentsy Commons to take some group pictures. They ran into the same problems we did with the cold and wind. After their pictures they went to eat and then went to the dance.

I saw them a couple of times while wandering around doing my job as a chaperone and my observation was that Ryker needed to do more dancing. He told me later when I shared my observations that they did dance, he wasn't that big of a dud.
I am glad he had fun. After Ryker and Avynlea got home I had them pose for a couple more pictures for me. We took pictures talked about their night and then made it to bed at about 12:30am. I had fun visiting with my kids and talking about their fun night, I love that they didn't care about me being a chaperone at the dance and weren't embarrassed to see me or talk to me with their friends. It was a good yet exhausting night and I am so glad Homecoming is finally over.

Avynlea's Homecoming

Cheerleaders are in charge of planning, picking the theme, and decorating for Homecoming every year. Really the parents of the cheerleaders do most of the work but they help out as well. Because they are in charge each cheerleader gets in free and gets a free ticket to give. I told Avynlea she could go to the dance with her friends but I did not want to spend a lot of money on a dress. We looked on Amazon for options and found some ideas but the dress we ended up getting I found on NeeSee's on sale for $24 and the regular price was $60. Avynlea wasn't even home but I thought it was really pretty and the deal of a lifetime so I bought it first and then sent her  picture to make sure though I knew she would love it. When it came it was a little big and long so I fitted it to Avynlea and brought the sides in. I cut the lining and hemmed it just fine but when I went to cut the tulle I got over confident and like a dummy hacked at it and completely ruined it. It was a mess and I felt like an idiot and went into self-pity mode for the next couple of days. After a couple of options trying to figure out how to fix it I finally found the perfect matched tulle at JoAnn's after trying Hobby Lobby and Was-mart and took the dress apart to sew in new tulle. Thank heavens once it was done it looked great and no one could ever tell that I was a big dummy and almost ruined my big investment of $24 which adding in the new cost of the tulle went up a little. No worries it was still inexpensive and worth it.

The day of Homecoming I did Avynlea's hair in flat iron curls with a braid into a messy bun and she looked absolutely beautiful!

She was the prettiest one at the dance and I would know because I was a chaperone. She looked sweet and innocent and stunning. I could not believe how tight and short some of the dresses were, one girl bent down to pick something up and I saw her underwear her dress was so short. It was not cute. But Avynlea looked amazing and a lot of it was her beautiful soul shining through.

I also did her Besties Madison and Sadie's hair and once we were done I drove them to the Village for pictures with the rest of their group. It was frigid and windy and we took the pictures really quick so we could get out of the cold.

Hannah, Hope, Sadie, Avynlea, Madison and 

It's nice that there are little fire pits scattered around so the kids could warm up a little, of course Homecoming had to be the coldest day of the week.

The kids wanted to eat at Chick-fil-a and they decided it was close enough that they could walk over to it. I drove the car over because I am not crazy. It was a very frigid night.

Everyone got their food and I got a spicy chicken sandwich meal. This is the second time I have eaten at chick-fil-a and I have to say I am not impressed. It was over priced and did not taste very good, not a fan.

I had to get to the dance before it started because I volunteered to be a chaperone but it was too early for the kids to want to go in so they sat in my car until a more acceptable time for entry had come. Being a chaperone was actually quite boring, wandering around listening to loud music watching kids attempt to be cool is not my idea of a good time. Luckily I had some fellow cheer Moms to pass the time with and when we saw the photo spot not being used we quickly huddled together for a group selfie.

Elizabeth, Amy (Paige's Mom), (Natalie's Mom) and Carrie (Hailey's Mom)

Midway through the dance we went up to help in the shoe check and I could not believe the chaos that was the shoe check. Each pair of shoes had a ticket with a number on it and the numbers were not in any kind of order, it was a mess. Hunting for shoes was getting stressful and the only upside to this job was how good you felt when you finally found the pair of shoes you had spent 10 minutes hunting for. Those endorphins were much appreciated because as soon as you found one the hunt was on for the next pair. 

Avynlea and I got home around midnight and I was tired and achey all the next day. I am glad Avynlea had such a fun time with her friends and I am extra glad this weekend is finally over!

Fall Sports Assembly

On Friday I met Brit with Xander and Hazel and Michelle with Caleb and Garrett at the High School to watch Avynlea perform with the cheerleaders at the Fall Sports Assembly. This week is Homecoming week and they do a pep rally type assembly the morning of the big Homecoming game. 

She did a great job dancing and in her stunts, I love watching her perform!

After the assembly we got a picture of Varsity and J/V cheerleaders together, Avynlea is in the middle front.

Once the cheerleaders were done with their pictures we got some pictures with Avynlea and her fabulous personal cheer team :)

Elizabeth, Brit, Avynlea, Michelle, Garrett,

Xander, Hazel and Caleb

Kenedy at School

Danny Ricks sent Kefford and I this picture of Kenedy sharing her umbrella with him, she was walking him to his car in the rain and helping him stay dry. I am glad that she has Danny up there with her, he is a great friend and sounding board for her.

Kenedy sent me this picture of her with a bunch of her friends all of whom went and crawled into the tunnel under the Teton Dam. Not my idea of a good time, no way would I have ever done that! But she said she had fun, they had to hike down to it and her legs got all scratched up but I guess that is all part of the fun. She said it got a little scary when she had to crawl through a small hole in the cement to get into the tunnel because it was all blocked off. She got a little claustrophobic at first but then it passed and she enjoyed the journey, she is crazy, but I am glad she is having fun. 

Meanwhile back in Emmett, I snapped this picture of Qiana and Rylee while we were out at the Barnyard getting it set up and ready for the CornMaze season.

New Cheer Uniforms

Rylee has to do an "All About Me" poster for school filled with information and pictures that she draws about her life so far. It made me so happy to see her pull out some of my blog books to help her fill in some of the gaps that she couldn't remember. Watching her do this made me feel that in the challenge that is Mother hood that I am doing at least one thing right!

In the picture on the right Rylee went with the other Young Women to the Goodwill to have a little fashion show of modest outfits. Rylee said she just grabbed items that looked modest and didn't really care what they looked like. I don't think this activity was her cup of tea but she was a trooper for going along with it.

Thursday night was Avynlea's second cheer game of her Freshman season. As we were driving to the school for the game it was raining pretty bad and we were wondering if the game was going to be cancelled or not. When we arrived all the cheerleaders went into the gym to wait out the rain and I went in with Avynlea to hang out until a decision was made. The football players can play in the rain but it was the lightening that was the concern. After waiting about an hour they decided the game could be played and we went to the field and the game started only half an hour late. Luckily the rain had pretty much stopped by then but it sure was cold. Alison came to watch Avynlea cheer and it was fun having her there with me the entire time.

One of my friends has a little girl that was born with a disease that caused them to have to amputate both her legs right below the knee. One of the cheerleaders on our team, Olivia, has an artificial leg and when I saw that I told Whitney she should bring Eleanor to one of the games to meet Olivia. She brought her this night and at halftime she was able to take her down to meet a cheerleader with a leg like hers. It was really cute to watch this meeting and I am sure it makes Whitney happy to have another inspiration for her daughter to look up to.

There was something about the sunset last night that was just beautiful, the sky looked like it was on fire. I tried to get some good pictures but the camera never does it justice.

Avynlea loved the look of the sunset as well and at halftime she had me take some pictures of it with her and her friends Hailey and Andreya.

This was also the first night of the girls wearing their new J/V team uniforms. I think they look cute but Avynlea says they are a little uncomfortable, I think her problem was because her uniform was just a bit too small. Hopefully as it gets worn it stretches out a little so that it is not so uncomfortable for her.

Kenedy's first day of her 2nd year at BYU-I

Kenedy left to go back to school on Thursday and it was really hard to see her go. I have loved having her around during her summer break and was not ready for her to go back to Rexburg. A couple of days after she left I went to Target and was trying on some clothes but couldn't decide how I felt about them. I wanted Kenedy there with me so badly to give me advice and I ended up just leaving the clothes and drove home missing my girl.

We bought Kenedy a Ford Escape to take to school with her, the transmission wasn't that great but we were told she could drive it until it stopped. Kenedy made it to the turn off into Rexburg and then her transmission died. I was grateful for the tender mercy from the Lord in getting her back to Rexburg before her car broke. We had it towed to a place in Rexburg and hopefully will be able to get it fixed so Kenedy can have a car to drive around.

Kenedy went to I-night per beginning of school tradition and sent me this picture she took with her friends that she met at her very first I-night. Kenedy loved being with us at home but I know she was desperate to get her social life back so I was happy that she is able to be back at school with her friends having fun and hanging out.

Brandon, Kenedy and Derek

Kenedy sent me her first day of school picture and I love it! She is so beautiful and I love that she remembers to take a picture for me and that she knows how important these traditions are. She is the best and I cannot believe that she is a Sophomore in College and will be turning 20 in half a year! Where has the time gone?!

Family Pictures 2019

I think this is the first year I was really on top of getting our family pictures done. I wanted/needed to do them before Kenedy left for school and so I had that in the back of my mind all summer. I was going to ask Lana to do then=m again but then Lindsay put it out on Facebook that she as ready to start taking pictures again and I jumped on it. I love how she did our pictures before and was so excited to be able to use her again. During our photo shoot Kefford and I both took some behind the scenes pictures which I love seeing. 

Lindsay did an amazing job and I love all of the pictures we got!

Rylee 12, 7th Grade

Avynlea 14, 9th Grade

Ryker 16, 11th Grade

Kenedy 19, College Sophomore 

Personal Progress Awards

Well they did it! Avynlea and Rylee both completed their Personal Progress and earned their medallions! I am so proud of both of them, they have both made goals and worked hard to meet those goals. Avynlea finished hers about a month ago and had her interview with the Bishop and then nothing. I didn't push it because I knew Rylee was close to completing hers and I thought it would be cool to have them get their medallions together. Once Rylee finished her last project she met with the Bishop and then we let her Leaders know that she was done and that Avynlea needs hers also. They were super proud of my girls as well and had it set up so that they would get their medallions in sacrament meeting that week.

After the sacrament the Bishop had Avynlea and Rylee come up where they got their certificates and their medallions and then they were told they could sit back down. Honestly it was pretty anti-climatic. I wasn't wanting confetti and loud horns but I thought they could have talked about how much hard work goes into this andwaht an accomplishment it was but they didn't and that was too bad.

After church was over we came home and took some pictures with our amazing girls and their awards!